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Thursday, September 22, 2016

This is the first year I did this project with 1st grade. I ABSOLUTELY recommend it. We went over our elements of art, THANK YOU Cassie Stephens for the idea of creating hand motions for the elements of art (i did change some of them to make them more suitable for my students and I)

First day we read Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon from storyline.online.net, and then did a venn diagram comparing and contrasting birds and bats. Then on painting day we added birds and bats in the silhouette landscape

We spoke about color and watched this awesome (I have used this video so many times in my classroom) youtube clip, from Sesame Street, to learn about primary and secondary (or should i say review).

I then gave them liquid watercolor, in the primary colors only, and they were able to mix colors and "experiment" (ahem, science collaboration, anyone??)

Then we took a break to learn about silhouettes and looked at pictures of real sunset silhouettes and prior projects.
We spoke about shape and created "autumn" landscapes, including ground, trees, pumpkins, bats, birds, swing sets.. whatever they thought was in an autumn landscape.

We briefly discussed foreground, middle ground, and background.

Last day, we added black borders and white contour line drawings of "Fall" and "Halloween" images. Then added name label and PRESTO we completed our first official project of the year.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Dear Blog and Blog Readers (if there are any out there!! hahaha... i don't blame you)

Every year I start off with the idea that i'm going to update my blog all the time and do all of this crazy stuff, but then LIFE gets in the way. So this year, on my planner I put that every Friday I will update my blog. I have some great lesson kick starters and i can't wait to see all the light bulbs turn on and project making begins!

SO this year I would like to focus on my use of technology in the classroom. I have a lot of things I would like to start incorporating in my art classroom. SO, be on the look out!

Today is the first day for staff and our students start Monday! So I need to get EVERYTHING prepared.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Hello Everyone!!!
My 3rd grade students created 3 tier cakes based off of well-known pastry/cake painter (on canvas) Wayne Thiebaud. I found a great video ( showed like 3 ish minutes about the artist) on youtube:

The students loved seeing the compare/contrast of real cakes/pies to his paintings and the way that Thiebaud talks about the paint being like 'icing'.
So 1st day we drew the 3 tiers and then added a slice out (choice for students). They outlined and erased any sloppy lines.

2nd day they painted the "details" with water color. And the rest of the cake with DIY PUFFY PAINT. DIY PUFFY PAINT is the best. I made puffy paint using same parts glue, tempura paint and shaving cream. My students LOVED using this paint. It felt like icing (didn't smell like it, which is a good thing because i think i would have had students licking the paint otherwise, hahahahaha.. it was that convincing looking)

here are some results (some classes needed 3 full classes just depending on class size and speed)

I had a couple of hand outs with how to draw a step-by-step 3 tier cake and how to 'cut' a slice of cake out.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Check out this awesome outfit! I would totally wear this outfit and I'm definitely not a 4th grader!! if you look closely the leggings are ice cream scoops! ICE CREAM SCOOPS

Don't get me started on how much i love mustaches! We gave them out at our wedding for a favor and this Halloween we had a "You are FanTASHEstic" car trunk for our churches trunk or treat. I think it just adds the right amount of silly humor!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Hello All!!!! I know it's like the 4th week of school but man how time flies and I just remembered that I forgot to update thee ol' blog. I am going to try to update like once a week this year.

This year I started out the year in Kindergarten with shape monsters, after being inspired by the Book, "The Monster Who Lost His Mean", by Tiffany Strelitz Haber, Kirstie Edmunds. Pictures to come.In First Grade: We started with Warm/Cool Color Leaf Echo line Drawings. Pictures to come. In 3rd Grade: We are working on studying the Elements of Art in depth and we are starting with LINE. We discussed lined and filled out a line design graphic organizer. We then studied different tree houses and created some beautiful tree houses. Pictures to come. In 4th grade: We are studying the Element of Art: Color, specifically COMPLEMENTARY colors. We are doing this by creating OPTICAL illusions and adding complementary color groups to help make them POP! I know that many of you have either saw this project before or maybe have done it before with your classes but I allowed the students to color it in anyway they would like, as long as, they developed a pattern using a COMPLEMENTARY color group. To create the "Web" we created a dot inthe middle of the paper with pencil.We added 6 lines (from edge to edge) through the dot. Then we added "smile" lines to every other triangle. Then connected the "smile" lines with frown lines in all the blank triangle spaces. We outlined with a fine sharpie marker and erased any pencil lines peeking through. Then we discussed COMPLEMENTARY colors and did a couple of class activities. Here are some of the end results:

Well I hope to add the k, 1, 3 projects by Monday! Happy Art Making!!!!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

So this is the first year I did this project. I did get the idea from this here, FANTASTIC BLOG Art with Mrs. Seitz. Instead of calling it a parody, I wanted them to come up with a story, to link writing/literacy into it, about their Mona Lisa needing a day off and why she was in a certain disguise. I always like to give credit to where I find projects, but try to modify and put my own personal spin on it. After they completed their drawing, they had to fill out a 'graphic organizer' and write a story about their Mona Lisa being in disguise.

The students received a 11" x 17" piece of white construction paper. They also received a piece of paper with a photocopied black and white Mona Lisa Head and Hands. They cut out the head and hands and glued them on the paper. I gave them the option of using the hands, just in case they might have wanted her 'moving' or 'standing'.

We did this project in the fall near Halloween, so many students dressed their Mona's in Halloween costumes. All in all, the students blew me away with their creativity and imaginations and THEIR STORIES.

I wish you all could see the amazing stories that go along with their amazing drawings!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

My undergrad was for Crafts with a concentration in Fiber Design. If you just read that and are thinking "What in the world does that mean?" Don't worry, your not the first! I went on an interview right after I graduated (undergrad) and they though I had a concentration in Fiber-OPTICS. Yea, no way!
I took courses in weaving, needle felting, felting, knotless netting, etc. Then I went back to school to get my teaching cert. to teach k-12 art education.

SOOOOOOO.. what I am getting at is that I love to do a yarn woven basket with my 4th graders, pretty much every year. But after a while, even though the kids beg me to do this project, it gets a little redundant to say the least so this year I added a whole other element (humorous, engaging you might think!) to it, and they were totally successful.

I have the original lesson here. This year we turned our baskets in to Wacky HEADS/PEOPLE. We still focused on traditional vs. contemporary materials. They received a 'cup loom' a plastic cup cut into a odd number of 'spokes' or 'warp'. They wove in using a yarn color pattern 'weft'.

Add the top of the cup they could add a more contemporary material for hair or whatever they choose. Here are some of the outcomes:

These are just a few examples of the many that were extremely creative, humorous and well though out!

If you have any questions about the lesson, please let me know. This was done with 4th grade but could be adapted or modified for other grades

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I hope you enjoy viewing some art lessons I have used in the elementary art classroom. This is a great way for me organize and display my art lessons, as well as, help me with getting to know my community and other art educators. Thank you for visiting!!